Social policy 1945-1964 Flashcards
(28 cards)
Name two reports of the IWYs that formed the background to the Education (‘Butler’) Act 1944.
Hadow report 1926, Norwood & Spens Report.
How much did spending on education increase between 1947 and 1958?
Doubled from a low base.
What percentage of children aged 15 and 16 were in education by 1955 and why was this an improvement on the figures for 1950?
60% and 28% respectively
- a doubling since 1950
- but the lack of 16 year old indicated narrow opportunities for Higher Education and work.
What were the odds for a w/c child passing the 11+?
1 in 10
By the early 60s what percentage of children took GCEs, CSEs and left school unqualified and why these figures significant?
Roughly 20% of pupils took GCEs
- 40% took CSEs
- 40% left school unqualified;
- only GCEs led to A levels and Higher Education.
What did the Newsome Report 1963 say about grammar schools and educational opportunities?
- Grammars were smaller and better resourced
- talent wasted due to a lack of educational opportunities.
Name two reports investigating Higher Education and summarise their significance.
- Barlow Report 1946 noted insufficient scientific education and inadequate number of universities;
- Robbins Report 1963 repeated the criticism, said UK being overtaken for HE provision but 4 new universities followed it.
What contribution did the Beveridge Report make to National Insurance?
- Rationalised NI & for the first time: uniform for everyone, created assistance based on need
- aimed for positive redistribution to end poverty.
Identify Labour’s legislation for the welfare state.
- Family Allowance Act 1945
- NI Act 1946
- National Assistance Act 1948 abolished Poor Law and PACs
- but National Assistance was effectively a centralised means test.
Identify the increase in benefit spending between 1938 and 1950.
Benefit spending was 4.4% GDP
- more than double 1938 figure.
What significantly reduced poverty as shown by Rowntree in 1951?
Full employment,
- increased pension and family allowance (helped reduce the effect of the poverty cycle when children were born).
How has the welfare state of the 1940s & 1950s been described and why?
- Austerity welfare state
- defence spending was far higher 10-14% GNP and austerity governed GB 1945-51.
Summarise the condition of pensioners by the early 60s.
- Low pensions,
- declined in real terms due to inflation and meagre increases by govts.
- 1961: 5m pensioners in poverty (40% of the poor);
- by 1965 poverty had increased to 14% from 8%
- in 1950s; 3m pensioners did not claim national assistance.
Identify the percentage of national wealth spent on social services in the late 30s and in 1948.
Percentage of UK national wealth spent on social services: 8%;
- same as late 1930s;
- 10.7% in 1948.
Identify the percentages of households in poverty in 1954 and the late 30s.
13.2% of households in poverty in 1954 compared to 15% in late 1930s.
What happened to claims for National Assistance from 1948 to the early 60s and why was this significant?
Numbers on Nat Assist doubled from 1m in 1948 to 2m in mid-60s.
- 13.2% of all households in poverty (16% in late 1930s).
- Not a great improvement on the 30s.
What were the two weaknesses of the implementation of the Beveridge Report?
Minimum level of income from benefits of Beveridge not achieved
- as the benefits were too low and National Assistance was means-tested (despite B’s demand it should not)
- unclaimed by many poor pensioners.
Name the legislation that introduced the NHS.
NHS Act 1946 implemented in 1948
What is the phrase associated with the NHS and what departure was made from it in 1950?
- Free at the point of access
- subsidised prescription charges for dentistry and spectacles.
How did Labour depart from the Beveridge Report when it came to healthcare?
- NHS financed by taxation not, as Beveridge wanted, by NI
- Labour made a bold departure from Beveridge
- but underestimated the cost and the complications of a NHS.
Identify public spending on healthcare between 1938 and 1951.
- Public spending on health more than doubled
- from 1.6% of GDP in 1938 to 3.4% in 1951.
Did Labour build any new hospitals in 1945-51?
- No
- Labour only nationalised the HC system of the 1930s and did not involve an extension of HC services
- no new hospital built in the 1940s.
What did the Guillebrand Committee in 1953 say about the NHS and how did the Conservatives treat the NHS differently?
- Guillebrand Committee 1953 found healthcare spending measured by GDP was declining and more hospitals built in the IWYs;
- NHS grew under Cons who began rationalisation in
1962, - building hospitals but changing their purpose into diagnostic centres supported by neglected and under-funded local social services.
What did Bevan do to get the BMA to support the NHS and what happened to the budget for it?
- BMA/doctors ‘fed with gold’
- private practice, clinical independence.
- Estimated budget tripled in the first four years.
